FM Cultural Calendar | Starting Saturday, May 3, 2014

Hope and GravityTracy Brigden directs the world premiere of Michael Hollinger's play in which lives overlap and elevators stop on random floors as ten characters are compellingly revealed in a nonlinear comedy about fate. From a backyard squabble to an unlikely hotel hookup, chance encounters and rocky relationships unfold through nine stories and one momentous leap of faith.05/03/2014 - 05/25/20141300 Bingham Street Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map

Big Band and BeyondThrill to the music that defined the American Century. Susan Medley directs the PCC with the Jazz Conspiracy Swingtet in hits by Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and more.05/03/2014 - 05/04/201405/03 - 7:30 pm05/04 - 4:00 pm

Cassandra WilsonCassandra Wilson has been described as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack who has expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country and folk music into her work. Her awards include: two Grammys, the Django D'Or, The Edison Music Award, a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, and the 2012 Echo Award for Jazz. She also performed a lead role in Wynton Marsalis' "Blood on the Fields," the first jazz work to receive a Pulitzer Prize.05/03/2014Time: 9:30 pm1815 Metropolitan St, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map

Music 101 - Noah Bendix-Balgley PSO Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley gives an informal lecture, titled "Concertmaster: The Symphony's Quarterback." He will discuss his life and career, and his role as PSO Concertmaster, and also take questions from the audience.05/07/2014Time: 12:30 pmHeinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map

Ping at Trinity CathedralThe virtuoso madrigal ensemble Ping, a quintet founded atr CMU, presents a lunchtime program at Trinity Cathedral in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. This informal concert will feature a variety of sacred and secular music, including works by Ping member and Trinity Cathedral composer-in-residence, Sean Salamon.05/07/2014Time: 11:30 am

Comfort ZoneMarlon Youngblood's "Comfort Zone," featuring Tony Award nominee Anthony Chisholm and directed by Mark Whitehead, is about the aftermath of a shooting and how it impacts a community. "Comfort Zone" is based on the searing hit production from last year's Theatre Festival in Black & White.05/09/2014 - 05/31/2014Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater, 937 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map

Doubt, A ParableIn this brilliant and powerful drama by John Patrick Shanley, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.05/09/2014 - 05/18/201405/09 - 8:00 pm05/10 - 8:00 pm05/11 - 2:00 pm05/16 - 8:00 pm05/17 - 8:00 pm05/18 - 2:00 pm Carnegie, PA